Gone
by eccentricallybeautiful
Summary: My name is Amara Santiago and I was in Medical School. I was a nurse at hospital and I worked weekends at a bar. None of that is relevant anymore. The world went to hell and I don't think anyone had the slightest idea of how bad it really was or how bad it could get. The weak die and the strong prosper and worst of all people turn into animals.
1. The Beginning

When the world goes to hell, people change. It's a strange thing. I was originally from Nevada but 10 years before the outbreak I had moved to Atlanta, Georgia. My reason for moving was because I wanted to get away from an abusive father. My brother had moved to a small town just outside of Atlanta. He also owned a bar outside of the town that he resided in. I had grown up with 2 brothers. The oldest one, Jayce had left Logan and me to live with our abusive father. Jayce left the minute he turned 18 and he didn't look back. Jayce was 10 years older than me and Logan was 6 years older than me. Logan had promised me that when he turned 18 he would get me out of the hell hole that I was in. He kept his word.

I was 16 when my brother was able to get custody of me. At that point in time he was 22 and had already opened up a bar outside of town. He made a decent income and was able to keep me fed, clothed and kept a roof over my head. That was all that mattered to me. The bar was popular with people passing through and bikers. Mostly bikers. I quickly learned that my brother was into drugs among other things. He was also part of an MC and not the good kind either. He was generally too high to run the bar correctly which is where I came in. Before, my brother had me running the bar, he taught me how to fight. He figured this was a good idea since he knew a lot about the people that came into the bar. He didn't have to tell me why. I was curvy. Small waist, big boobs and a nice ass. I was also pretty, or so I had been told.

By the time I had turned 18, I knew the regulars. The ones who always came by. Merle and Daryl Dixon were the ones that I knew better than anyone else because Merle was Logan's partner in crime and Daryl just went along with his brother. I was currently in medical school when the news about the outbreak started to come out. We had a TV in the bar and I had it on the early morning news. The news reporter had stated that the virus that had been all over the United States but signs of it were showing up in Atlanta hospitals. They stated that until they could control the virus to report to some sort of camp in Atlanta. I had told Merle and Logan about it and they had told me that it was completely useless and they were probably lying. My brother didn't trust the government. He thought it was a ploy to control us.

I was worried because I was working at the hospital as a nurse during my schooling and working weekends at the bar. I had heard of people become sick after being bit by another person and everyone stated that it was rare and extremely case of rabies. I had highly doubted that was the case. Turns out that I would end up right. Right before shit really hit the fan, my brother had went MIA and I hadn't seen him since. When shit hit the fan, I had realized that this wasn't a rabies outbreak, this was the apocalypse.

Luckily. I knew how to shoot and I had a bow and arrow that I used. The way I dressed started to look like Lara Craft from Tomb Raider. I started wearing jeans with combat boots that came up to my knees and a tank top. I had the gun holsters that are tomb raider as well. I had found them while I was out looking for my brother. I had my bow strung across my chest with a backpack that held my arrows.

I still cared about the patients in the hospital and I kept checking on them even when things got really bad which is when all the doctors and nurses had begun to abandon the patients at the hospital and they locked it up and shut it down. I would sneak into the hospital and look after the patients that had been abandoned and left for dead. After all my brother had told me that no door is actually locked. There is always a way in. There was one particular patient that was a cop and had been shot and was currently in a coma. Every day, I would check his vitals to make sure that he was still alive and he wasn't going to die on me. Eventually things got so bad that I wasn't able to, so I had blocked his door the best I could. That was the day that I barely made it out of the hospital alive. I had seen people die of natural causes and then they would come back as a biter. I didn't understand how because I had figured that you needed to be bit for that to happen but I guess that was wrong.


	2. High Alert

I've seen the worst in people. I've seen the things that people do. My best friend and I have been barely making it out on our own. I've seen men turn into ruthless animals that had to be put up down. I searched 3 years for my brother Logan but I couldn't ever find him and after a while I had to think he was gone for good. However, I still held onto hope that he might show up.

"What the hell are you thinking about?" Alexandra asked as we were tracking a deer.

"My brother, mostly. I'm also wondering if things will ever go back to normal." I responded while looking and aiming at my target. I aimed, pulled back and shot. I managed to get a clear shot.

"How did you get you get so good with the bow and arrow?" Alex asked while following me to the deer.

"My brother stated that he wanted to teach me how to hunt and track because he belived that the government was going to shut down and then the world would go to shit or some sort of disaster and that I needed to learn how to use something quiet and effective. Logan managed to save up money to buy me a hunting bow and arrow. When things got really bad and my father was making moonshine or some shit and you good tell things were going to get bad. I would sneak out and keep practicing." I explained.

"Well it's good that you learned how. I don't know how we would survive if you didn't learn how but I'm sorry you went through hell." Alex stated as we drug the deer back to our little base.

Once we got back to the truck that we had centered out camp. I torn into the deer and started to create a meal out of it. We had set up a thing so that cans were wrapped around the camp so that if biters came around, we would hear it.

"Do you want to take the first shift or should I?" Alex asked.

" I will. You look tired and I don't think I'll be able to sleep anyway." I told her beginning to climb on the roof of the truck so that I have a better view of our camp ground while Alex climbed into the bed of the truck.

"Hey, wake me up if something goes south." She murmurs while drifting off to sleep.

I looked around and then began looking at the stars. I started thinking about in all reality the stars and the earth didn't change. The seasons still go on and the leaves still fall in autumn and the snow still comes in the winter and flowers still bloom in the spring and heat waves still come in the summer. Earth still spins and time will still pass even when we are all long gone. I was broken from my thoughts when I heard that gut wrenching noise of the biters. I hopped of the truck careful not to wake Alex. I took the knife from my boot and stabbed it in the head and went back to the truck.

Alex was like a little sister to me, we met in my sophomore year of college while she was freshman. Ever since, we've been two peas in a pod. I began to take on the protective big sister roll. To me, she was someone that I felt needed to be protected. I didn't tell her much about my childhood. I just told her what I thought she needed to know. It was like the sister I never had. She also had the life that I always dreamed of. She had two parents and well her past wasn't have as screwed up as mine. Honestly I think that I liked this world better, in away. Nobody cared about your past or where you came from. All they cared about was surviving, and the ones that helped them survived.

Every now and again I thought about Daryl and Merle. I figured that they would like this world better as well. We came from a similar background. I was snapped from my thoughts when I heard the sound of human voices. I sat up and became extremely alert. I smacked Alex's arm, she was woke up a gasp and looked at me. I put a finger to my lips signaling that she needed to be quiet. She listened and I'm sure that she heard the voices as they got closer. I hopped off the top of the truck and Alex hoped out of the bed of truck and grabbed her gun from the back of jeans. I grabbed an arrow from my bag and had my bow and I was aiming at where the voices were coming from.


End file.
